Average Retirement Age Up to 61 in United States

According to a recently released report from Gallup.com (link below), the average retirement age in the United States has increased by four years over the past two decades.

According to Gallup, the average retirement age of those people included in the survey was 61. Let's look at the years when the average retirement age first ticked higher over the past two decades:

1993 - 57 years old
2002 - 59 years old
2004 - 60 years old
2013 - 61 years old

This information specifically targets the Americans who have already retired.

Those who are still slogging away at their jobs expect to work far beyond the age of 61. As a matter of fact, the average working American expects to retire at the age of 66, which is up dramatically over the past two decades (the average working American expected to retire at the age of 60 in 1995).

A full 37% of working Americans expect that they will have to work past the age of 65. Compare this to 2002 (22%) and 1995 (14%).

On the other hand, just 26% of working Americans expect to retire before the age of 65, which is down dramatically from 49% in 1995.

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Americans under the age of 29 are most optimistic about their retirement prospects, with a full 37% believing that they will be able to punch in their card for the final time before the age of 65. Compare this to the other age groups included in the survey:

30 to 49 years - 24%
50 to 57 years - 24%
58 to 64 years - 16%

A full 51% of working Americans between the ages of 58 to 64 expect to have to work past 65.